Bill Gates sounds alarm on AI-powered cyberattacks, warns of 'negative surprises' within a year

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates warned Sunday that artificial intelligence could fuel a wave of cyberattacks over the next year, and said that malicious actors are gaining access to increasingly powerful AI models without adequate safeguards.

Gates warned that criminals could exploit the latest AI technology to disrupt financial systems, extort businesses and carry out increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks.

"When you have bad people, no safeguards, and then the latest models, that's where, over the next year, primarily in the cyber area, we are going to have a lot of negative surprises," Gates said during a "State of the Union" interview with CNN's Jake Tapper.

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Democratic strategist Oliver Libby told Fox News Digital that Gates' warning underscores the challenge facing policymakers as artificial intelligence advances and the United States seeks to maintain its technological competitiveness.

"The great challenge both for innovators and governments in the coming months is to balance continued progress in AI with smart regulation. Leaders who can balance ensuring that America is not left behind, but that no American is left out, will win public trust," Libby said.

Gates' warning comes as cybersecurity researchers report a sharp increase in AI-enabled threats. 

According to CrowdStrike's 2026 Global Threat Report, attacks by AI-enabled adversaries increased 89% year over year in 2025, while the average time for cybercriminals to move laterally through compromised networks fell to 29 minutes.

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Tapper pressed Gates about his warning that artificial intelligence could make it easier for terrorists to develop deadly biological weapons, citing his assessment that the risk of a bioterrorist attack could become 50 times greater than that of a natural pandemic. 

Tapper also questioned how soon such an attack could occur and whether government leaders were doing enough to prevent it.

"Well, no, we're not doing enough," Gates said. "The real danger right now is not the AI is getting out of control. We need to work on that, but that's years away in terms of the big impact that might have."

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Gates described potential financial motivations behind cyberattacks, including extortion schemes and disruptions designed to manipulate financial markets or betting outcomes.

"The front that we'll probably see most dramatically in the next year is cyberattacks, because there, there's a known business model where, you know, you threaten to do something and ask somebody to pay for that, or you create a disruption that changes something in the stock market or some betting thing that you go and do," Gates said.

Libby called for a coordinated regulatory approach that addresses security risks while preparing Americans for AI's broader economic consequences.

"Regulation should focus on federal and international standards, platform responsibility, cyber and deepfake penalties, child safety, and ensuring the participation of the population in the economic benefits of this powerful technological revolution — while starting to prepare our society for what could be profound workforce disruption," Libby said.